I was hunting deer, in full camo except my eyes, watching a falcon diving at birds as they flew across near the tail end of a swamp. There was a nice buck I had seen during archery, and this was the first day of muzzleloaders.
I would pan my head and eyes very slowly from side to side. I had topped a smaller tree in front of me earlier, and had to climb in between the trees to get to the seat. I was in stealth mode.
About 9 AM, I was turning my head back to the right. Was holding lefty with my .50 Cal Hawken. I noticed something moving at a high speed in the upper right of my field of view toward my eyes. Had to lean my head back, groan out of whatever, and raise the barrel at it. He almost hit my eyes with his talons, which would have knocked me out of my seat. Guess the falcon saw my eyes moving and thought I was breakfast.
I have had larger owls fly into the area where I am hunting and stop to hunt squirrels, I guess. I learned from the falcon to slowly stand up and sit back down, which I did on at least three different hunts.
We had hoot owls nest in a tree close to our house. About the time the eggs were to hatch, crows came. They took the baby owls from their eggs and fed them to their own babies. I filled the crows' nest with about a half pound of high-speed pellets. After that, the crows would leave the area when I stepped outside. They stopped using that nest. I enjoy seeing birds of prey, as long as I see them first.
